The Rise and Fall of King Lennox
by Hunter12345499
Summary: The fox, Lennox, has murdered his father, stolen his realm's most valuable treasure,and ran from his home with a band of fifty strong vermin. Now Lennox has ruled Loamhedge for twenty seasons. But what happens when he turns his eyes on Redwall. Please R
1. Chapter 1

Lennox Foxtrotter woke up and looked around. Him and his small band of vermin were at the end of The Great Dessert. Lennox was proud of his accomplishment. Thanks to his cunning he had led his vermin across the dessert. The fox looked around at the sleeping vermin. There lying beside him was his mate, Vixy. A more beautiful vixen was never born. The others included ferrets, rats, stoats, weasels, and a third fox. Lennox shook his mate awake and started arousing the rest of his vermin horde.

"Alright get off yer hunkers ye lazy batch of pawn scum!" he yelled to his horde.

Lennox's band got up grumbling and Lennox felt the time was right to give a handful a kick on their back end "Come on" He urged them "We're almost at the end of the dessert. Just think, fresh water again and no more digging holes to find it."

The ten vermin packed camp and started walking south again. One particular stoat was grumbling the whole way. Half an hour later they arrived at an abyss. The abyss was a huge gorge a couple miles wide and unfathomably deep. The stoat, Braunch, took one look at the abyss and had enough.

"That's it" Braunch said, "I've gone far enough. You're leading us all to our death's Lennox."

"Am I Braunch?" Lennox said calmly.

"Yes you are." Braunch continued "And I'm fed up with it. I've got half a mind to turn around and head home."

"Home to where?" Lennox asked moving closer to Braunch.

"Home to the northlands, of course" Braunch stated eyeing Lennox "and back to King Longtail"

"King Longtail, huh." Lennox said calmly moving Braunch closer to the abyss "So after all we've been through, you'd go running back to my brother with your tail between your legs?"

"Aye, that I would" Braunch said not noticing he was getting closer and closer to the edge of the abyss "And I'd tell him exactly what you did. That you slew your father and ran off with his most valuable treasure, and I'd tell him exactly where to find you."

"After all we've been through" Lennox sighed.

"Aye" Braunch said, "I'm sick of you Lennox. We've wandered six seasons in this dessert now. WE started out as fifty strong. Now look at us, there's only ten left."

"Fine then" Lennox replied, "Go"

"Huh"

"I said go" Lennox clarified "I'll even help you with the first step"

"Y-you, you will" Braunch replied not liking where this conversation was going or the gleam in his chief's eye.

"Aye" Lennox continued "and the last one."

"You will" Braunch said nervously.

"Aye"

With that Lennox Foxtrotter smacked the stoat in the jaw. Braunch staggered from the impact. He lost his balance and his foot slipped over the edge. He gave a horrendous scream and fell into the abyss, never to be seen again. Lennox turned to his vermin.

"Alright, Who's next?" He snarled "Because that is what will happen to you if you desert now. It may not be me slaying you. It may not be on of the vermin in this group. If you escape us, the dessert will get you. We started out with fifty strong, able vermin. We're down to ten, no nine. How many do you think will survive if we turn back? None! Now lets get over this gorge."

"But sir" The rat Stubbtail roused up the courage to say "How are we going to get over that thing?"

"Stubbtail has a point" the weasel Smaug replied.

Lennox looked at the abyss for a moment. "There's a bridge spanning the gorge over there." He told his vermin pointing at the bridge in question "We'll simply walk across it."

Lennox then grabbed the bag containing his treasure and started heading west toward the bridge "You are going first" Lennox told the vermin "I don't trust some of you in back of me." he turned to the ferret twins, Deadum and Dodum, his bowbeasts. "If anyone tries to turn around, shoot them." Deadum and Dodum grinned evilly and began to cross the abyss, bows drawn. Next came the stunted fox seer, Grodil. It wasn't known how old he actually was, but everyone know he was ancient. Then came Lennox's mate, Vixy. And last was Lennox.

To everyone's delight there was an oasis on the other side of the abyss. The vermin stayed there that night, singing and drinking the cool spring water.

The next morning they continued on their way, heading south. A week later they arrived at what appeared to be an ancient run down castle or abbey. Lennox took one look at the building and a triumphant smile crossed the sly fox's face.

"This is the place" He announced, "This is where we're going to build our kingdom. My kingdom."

"It looks kind of run down chief" Stubbtail replied puzzled.

Lennox turned on him "Of course it looks run down you idiot" He yelled, "It's the Abby of Loamhedge. It hasn't been lived in for ages!"

"Then how are we going to live in it chief?" Stubbtail continued.

"We rebuild it" Lennox stated "We rebuild it back to its former glory. But first let's set up camp. It's about dark."

Lennox watched as his vermin wandered about looking for a good place to set up camp. He stared up at his castle visions of things to come racing through his mind.

"We've sure come far," he crooned to his treasure in the bag "Soon we'll have our own kingdom and will live in luxury once again."


	2. Chapter 2

It had been twenty seasons since the day King Lennox Foxtrotter arrived at Loamhedge Abby. The restoration had taken longer then expected, seven seasons to be exact, but finally the old abbey was restored and Lennox appointed himself king. Since then King Lennox's command had grown from eight others to over five hundred other vermin. For some reason vermin from all over Mossflower flocked to Loamhedge. His horde was now made up of every type of vermin you could imagine, including a handful of reptiles. Lennox welcomed all the vermin with open arms, glad to have them in his army.

A couple of seasons after his arrival at Loamhedge, Vixy gave birth to two fox cubs named Morfin and Redbone Foxtrotter. Morfin, being the first born, would be Lennox's replacement when he died. Morfin, however, somehow didn't inherit Lennox's cunning. All that went to Redbone. Obviously Lennox's favorite cub was Redbone for this reason. Also, Morfin was Vixy's favorite and had turned into a spoiled little brat. Redbone however was exactly how a fox should be, In Lennox's mind, strong of body and cunning of mind, not to mention completely ruthless. It was a pity he wasn't born first.

Lennox, however, was satisfied. He had everything he had always wanted. Power, a kingdom, a family, he even had his father's, and now his, most prized treasure hung on his wall over the fireplace. King Lennox, however, was restless. Twenty seasons of peace had passed since he arrived there. Twenty seasons of not having to think of cunning plans to survive and win a battle against either another creature or nature, twenty seasons with no bloodshed. King Lennox was restless, King Lennox want a reason to go to war.

King Lennox looked around his study at the magnificent sword hanging above his fireplace. "It's a pity that I've got such a beautiful sword and never got a chance to use it." He said to no one in particular

The sword was indeed beautiful. It had a steel blade that was so shiny that you could see yourself in it. The hilt was made of brass with the same quality as the blade. At the end of the hilt was a carving of a fox's head with two tiny rubies for eyes. I'll take a walk King Lennox decided.

King Lennox walked down to the courtyard and up onto the wall. There he met General Deadum patrolling the wall.

"Anything to report, Deadum?" he asked the ferret.

"Nope" Deadum reported "Not a sign of any beast except for our own."

"That's good" Lennox said dismally.

"Open the gates for General Smaug" a voice called from the front gates.

Lennox and Deadum ran to the front gates and saw the weasel Smaug. Smaug was a mess. He was cut up all over, He had a javelin stuck into his shoulder, and he looked like he had generally been a scrap that he barely escaped with his life. Lennox envied him.

"Open the gates" Lennox called "Let him in."

Two solider rats opened the gates and Smaug led his vermin patrol inside. Lennox walked down to meet him.

What happened to you?" he asked his general

"I was attacked sir" Smaug replied.

"I realize that" Lennox replied angrily "Who attacked you?"

"The rats of the abyss" Smaug replied "The rats of Malkariss"

"Go get yerself patched up" Lennox told Smaug "Yer excused form your duty for the time being."

A few miles to the north of Loamhedge was a huge abyss a couple of miles wide and hundred's of miles deep. Inside this abyss was the Kingdom of Malkariss. The ruler of Malkariss was a rat named Toletum. Toletum was the latest in a long line of rat rulers to rule Malkariss. The rats of Malkariss hadn't bothered King Lennox for some seasons. Then all of a sudden their attacks had started. King Lennox had lost five patrols to the rats and four more had been attacked. It's about time someone did something about Malkariss Lennox thought happily. This was the excuse he was looking for. King Lennox turned around to address his vermin

"Vermin of Loamhedge" He announced "The rats of Malkariss have hurt us for too long. It is high time something was done to repay them for attacking the Kingdom of Loamhedge. I'm going to give you a week to prepare; Smaug should be healed by then. After a week the Kingdom of Loamhedge marches to war."

King Lennox finished his speech and walked back up to the abbey to get his stuff ready amid wild cheering from his vermin army.


	3. Chapter 3

King Toletum of the Abyss walked in his chambers thinking. He was in serious trouble. His general, General Oneeye, had reported that the patrol had lost some more rats after they were forced to attack a patrol from Loamhedge. The fact that he had lost some rats didn't bother him; he himself sometimes killed his own rats that disobeyed him. It was Loamhedge.

Twenty seasons ago, Toletum, then a captain in the army of Malkariss, heard of the fox Lennox wandering across the bridge of Malkariss. The bridge in question had been built seasons before Toletum was born by some long forgotten king for some long forgotten reason. From there Lennox had built his kingdom. Vermin form all over flocked to Loamhedge to be apart of Lennox's army. At first Malkariss hadn't bothered Loamhedge, figuring it wasn't a great threat but now Loamhedge was getting more and more bold. King Toletum didn't know what would happen if he declared open warfare on King Lennox of Loamhedge, or if they declared war on him, and that's what scared him. Lennox was rumored to have an army of eight hundred strong. Malkariss had a similar number if not more. If it was a war of sheer brute strength, he'd win easily, However, Lennox was renowned to be one of the cleverest beasts alive. That didn't bode well for Toletum or Malkariss.

In addition to Lennox and Loamhedge, Toletum had to deal with problems in his own kingdom. The statue of Malkariss, which had been used to subdue the rats into submission in the past, wasn't scaring them anymore. Every week more and more rats were trying to assassinate and overthrow him. King Toletum needed a way out.

Just then there was a knock at Toletum's chamber door.

"Come in"

In came a short fat rat wearing a white tunic stained with red wine and green grog stains. "Your grog yer majesty" The rat announced.

What took you so long, Devo" King Toletum yelled at the rat "What have you been doing, sampling again?"

"Well yer majesty" Devo replied, "I am rather partial to grog"

King Toletum grabbed the bottle of grog away from the rat, Devo, and yelled "Get out of my sight you grog thief!" sending Devo scurrying out the door.

King Toletum uncorked the bottle of grog, took a mighty swig, and sighed, "That's the stuff."

King Toletum in fact had become a severe alcoholic recently. Ever since things had started going downhill for him and his kingdom, which was a bout ten seasons, he started drinking more and more. Toletum had always drank, of course, but now you hardly ever saw him without a bottle of grog in one of his paws, and when you did, if you as much as looked at him wrongly you'd be dead. To him the grog had been the only thing that had kept him sane these past few seasons, however, truth be known, the excessive amounts of grog might have been yet another factor that turned the rats of Malkariss against King Toletum, the rats feeling that he was a weak leader.


	4. Chapter 4

Abbot Jeffery walked the walls around Redwall Abby. The old abbot smiled, it was a beautiful day. It was warm, spring morning with a gently breeze coming from the west. The old abbot looked forward to the feast that was being planned for that evening. It was a normal day but they hadn't had a feast for so long that he thought it would do the Redwallers some good to have a little merriment. Also the Long Patrol and the GUOSIM

Shrews were supposed to stop by for a few weeks. Skipper of the otters were also suppose to be coming. Suddenly there was a shout from outside.

"Oi, Jeffery ye great grub hoarder, will ye jolly well open the blinkin gates and let us in, wot wot."

The old mouse looked down on the Long Patrol hares and chuckled to himself.

"Just hold your horses a moment," The old mouse replied with a twinkle in his eye. "I've got to get to the gatehouse first."

Abbot Jeffery walked down to the gatehouse taking his good time. He slowly opened the gate and in came the Long Patrol hares. Jeffery ambled out to meet the leader of the hares, General Wildershank. General Wildershank was a tall older hare. It was well known all the battles he had been in, fighting random bands of vermin. All the Redwallers loved when the Long Patrol hares came to visit because they usually brought with them stories of what was happening in other parts of Mossflower.

"So General" Jeffery addressed Wildershank "Anything been happening in Mossflower that we need to know about?"

"Not much, wot" Wildershank commented thinking "Bit of a bickerin away south. The bloody rats of Malkariss are at it again. Attacking another band of vermin if I jolly well remember right wot wot"

"Nothing we should worry about then, right?" Sister Vera the infirmary

Keeper asked.

"No" General Wildershank replied "I don't see any jolly reason why they'd bother Redwall anytime soon wot. The rats of Malkariss usually don't leave their borders and the fox Lennox hasn't caused any trouble for twenty seasons. We'd jolly well march down there and get rid of the fox but he has a blinkin army down there and Glenda doesn't think it prudent to poke a jolly old bee hive wot wot."

Glenda was the Bagerlord who ruled Salasmandastron out on the coast and was supreme commander of the Long Patrol hares. Glenda, though a formidable opponent, was rather reluctant to send the Long Patrol into battle. This, on one hand, was a good thing, but it also meant that sometimes she didn't send them into battle when, in hindsight, she should have.

"So, Jeffery" The General said, "Where's the jolly scoff that Redwall is so blinkin famous for wot?"

"Coming" Jeffery replied "There's to be a feast tonight, but we're still waiting for the GUOSIM to show up."

It was early evening when the GUOSIM shrews knocked on Redwalls great oaken doors. Abbot Jeffery's granddaughter, Lily, was on the wall top when they arrived. The pretty little mousemaid announced the shrew's arrival with much enthusiasm. The gates were opened and in came the GUOSIM Shrews led by Log-a-log Bungo.

"Sorry we're late" Bungo said to the abbot "We had some trouble with Grugg and his gang coming here. Nothing to worry about of course, more of a nuisance then anything else."

Grugg was a weasel warlord, or that's what he called himself, who commanded a gang of twenty vermin. Grugg and his vermin roamed Mossflower causing what trouble they could. The GUOSIM ran into them from time to time but mostly they stayed away from any inhabited place.

"Well come and join the feast" Jeffery invited The GUOSIM


	5. Chapter 5

Precisely a week later King Lennox's army was ready to march. Lennox had his beautiful sword strapped in it's sheath around his waist. Ah, it felt good to be a warlord again and not a fox king that just sat around on his throne all day and got progressively fatter. Lennox, of course, was general, directly under him were his sons. Redbone and Morfin, in that order. Normally Morfin would be first, but Lennox felt that Redbone would make a better warlord then Morfin would. Below them was the weasel, Smaug, The ferrets

Deadum and Dodum, the rat, Stubbtail, and the rest of the army came next.

The army of Loamhedge set out at dawn, Lennox in the lead with Vixy waving a goodbye to her mate. Vixy wasn't going along on this journey. Lennox left the sly vixen in charge of his castle and kingdom while he was gone. One fox that was going, however, was Grodil the seer. Grodil wouldn't be much use in battle, but as an advisor he was first rate.

"Alright" Lennox called out to his horde "March" with that the army of Loamhedge marched off to war for the first time in twenty seasons.

King Lennox reached the abyss three days later and set up camp just outside of the disputed territory between the Kingdom of Malkariss and the Kingdom of Loamhedge. King Lennox surveyed his beasts trying to think of a clever scheme to take the abyss. He decided he'd sleep on it that night and start his scheme the next day.

"Deadum" He called to one of his bowbeasts "you and your beasts will take first watch tonight. Dodum's next, then Stubbtail, then Smaug and that's probably as far was we'd need to go tonight. You two!" He pointed to two rats that weren't doing anything "Raise my tent. Then you can start on my son's." The two rats scurried to do their king's bidding and immediately started constructing his tent.

Lennox's son, Redbone, meanwhile was mingling with the other foxes of the horde, particularly the vixen, Ziel. Redbone had been seeing Ziel off and on for about five seasons now and the two of them seemed to like each other. Lennox hardly paid attention to the two of them, having found his mate seasons ago; he generally let his son and his girlfriend go about their business as they pleased.

"There's my lovely little vixen" Redbone crooned to Ziel

Ziel giggled "And there's my great flattering blob of a fox" She teased.

"So, Ziel" Redbone replied "What do you think of this war my father's come up with?"

"It seems that your father has been restless for some seasons" Ziel replied "I'm not surprised he finally came up with a reason to attack Malkariss, the only thing I'm worried about is us."

"Aye" Redbone agreed, "The Rats of Malkariss are numerous. It would be extremely easy for many of us to get killed attacking them. I wouldn't worry too much though. We're foxes, we can outsmart any rat."

"I hope your right Redbone Foxtrotter" Ziel replied as she gave him a kiss on the cheek and headed off to see how the food was coming along.

Morfin, meanwhile, was helping himself to the rum that they had brought with them. Morfin wasn't as fit as his father or brother. While Lennox and Redbone went to great pains to keep themselves fit, Morfin didn't see why he should bother. He'd spend his days in the wine cellars sampling the wine, rum, and grog. Also, unlike his father and brother, he didn't see the point of getting himself a permanent mate. He preferred to get himself drunk and grab whatever vixen came along.

Morfin looked over at the two rats that were putting up his tent and staggered over to where they were working.

"Get to it, quickly" Morfin yelled at the two rats "I want me tent up ASAP and if it's not there'll be light shining through ye."

The two rats quickened their pace, unfortunately in doing this they got their footpaws entangled in to rope used to secure the tent and ended up tripping and falling right into Morfin. The three beasts tumbled around for a minute in heap before they were able to right themselves again. Morfin, now in a drunken rage, jumped up and down screaming and whipped out his cutlass. He swiftly made a hole through the first rat's stomach while the second rat fled. Morfin signaled two more rats and a lizard over. He directed the rats to finish raising his tent while he told the lizard to remove the dead rat.

Morfin was also a paranoid fox. He was well aware that his brother was much more cunning then he and that he was supposed to get the throne after his father died. If he was in Redbone's position he knew what he'd do. He'd eliminate the fox that was scheduled to take the throne any way possible. Morfin was also well aware of his father's fondness for Redbone. Therefore he was paranoid of his younger brother and any vermin under his command or any vermin he associated with. He was afraid Redbone would try to assassinate him to gain the throne and Redbone, being his fathers favorite cub, wouldn't be punished for the murder. I'll just have to beat Redbone to the punch He thought to himself if Redbone is slain, he couldn't slay me. I'll have to make it look like an accident though. Slay him in the middle of battle, and then everyone will think that an enemy killed him. Morfin sat there smiling evilly to himself. Soon his problems would be over. Redbone would be slain and he would be free to be King Morfin Foxtrotter when Lennox finally croaked.


End file.
